


Lost in the Fog: Life's Lessons are Everywhere

by Ginny305



Series: Lost in the Fog [5]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: story_arc, Deathfic, Multi, Threesome - F/F/M, Threesome - M/M/M, What-If, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-04
Updated: 2010-10-04
Packaged: 2017-10-12 10:05:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/123729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ginny305/pseuds/Ginny305
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which Don travels between alternate worlds.  Don is traveling between worlds, trying to get home. He's in hell, but there are still lessons to be learned</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost in the Fog: Life's Lessons are Everywhere

Title: Lost in the Fog: Life's Lessons are Everywhere  
Author: Ginny  
Fandom: CSI:NY  
Pairings: Mentions of Mac/Danny/Don, Lindsay/Aiden/Marty  
Rating: FRM  
Warnings: AU, character deaths  
Summary: Don is traveling between worlds, trying to get home. He's in hell, but there are still lessons to be learned   
Prompt: Fever  
Series Note: Part 5 of the 10 part story_arc challenge. The previous parts can be found on my journal (flocked) or at that community.  
Author's Notes: For the Dee and Kathie and Mer. Thank you for more than I can say. Special thanks to Kathie for this one. We should snippet exchange more often.

 

Don sat back on his heels and ran a hand through is sweaty hair. He let out a deep sigh as he looked around. He was in hell. There were no other words for it. He would rather be back in the world that was nothing but silence and fog. That one had been disconcerting and unpleasant, but nothing could be as bad as this. It was a walking nightmare. People were dying around him and there was nothing he could do.

He turned his attention back to his patient when he heard the soft sigh turn into a congested cough. Stella wasn't going to last much longer. She'd be dead by morning, the fourth friend he'd lost since he arrived the week before.

"Take a break."

Don turned to see Hawkes standing behind him. The stress of dealing with the plague had aged the doctor well beyond his years.

"I don't want to leave her," he protested.

Hawkes gave him a sympathetic smile. "I know. But the fever has taken hold, there's nothing you can do now. She won't know if you're here or not."

"I know," Don said. He sighed again and stood, cracking his back as he stretched.

"There's food in the main room," Hawkes told him. "Danny cooked, but it's edible today."

"'Kay," Don muttered. He walked slowly toward the door.

"Don."

"Yeah?" He stopped, but he didn't turn around.

"Make sure you eat."

He nodded and left the room. Leaning against the wall, he closed his eyes and tried to force himself to relax. Don rubbed at the small scar on the inside of his wrist where the inoculation against the plague had been given to him. It didn't hurt but he knew that it was there.

He didn't know how these people did it, losing so many people the way they did. He'd arrived eight days before, appearing in front of Angell who'd fainted as soon as she'd seen him.

Once things had been explained to everyone he'd been told that their Don had died the week before, two days after he married Angell. Danny had joked that it was like a bad movie plot.

"Don."

"Yeah Linds?"

"Food. You have to eat."

"Why? You gave me the damn vaccination, it's not like I can catch this plague," he snapped.

"You can still get sick," she pointed out. "Dinner. Or I'm sending Danny after you and he's cranky today."

"Why?" It seemed like all he did anymore was ask why.

"Our latest try for a cure failed miserably," she explained as she walked with him into the other room. "Add to that he had to cook for us. I'm glad I don't live with him."

Don managed a weak laugh of agreement. "He probably banged pots and pans around the entire time he cooked."

"He always hates to cook," Lindsay said, but they both knew that Danny's sulking had more to do with the cure. They'd been hopeful that they'd finally found a cure. The vaccination worked on anyone who wasn't infected but, once they were, it was just a matter of time. Nothing could be done against the disease that had a one hundred percent mortality rate.

"How are you feeling?" Don asked, taking the bowl of soup she handed him before they sat at the table. He knew that there were hundreds of small, isolated labs like this scattered across the country, filled with people fighting frantically to find a way to stop the fever from killing.

"I'm still good," she assured him. She knew that sooner or later her immune system would fail her too but, for the moment, the fever hadn't hit.

"I'm sorry Lindsay," Don told her. But he was also relieved . In his limited time on that world, he'd seen Adam, Peyton and Maka die. Soon Stella would be the fourth friend whose body would be incinerated.

"Don't be," she said immediately. "I learned long ago that I can't worry about it. I just hope that we figure out the damn cure before my time is up."

"How do you deal with it?" he whispered.

"It's been a way of life for nearly ten years," she said with a shrug. "We just do. We hope for the best and expect the worst. It's a cliché, but it's true."

"It's terrible."

"It is," she agreed, taking a spoonful of soup. "Danny's going to hate this, but he's getting better. I think he's going to have to cook more often."

"Shut your mouth Montana," Danny ordered her as he joined them. "You cook tomorrow whether you want to or not." She made a face at him and they laughed.

"Tell us about your Mac and Danny," Lindsay ordered him a few minutes later. She waved a spoon at him as she added, "I want all the details."

He would never have agreed but he'd walked in on Lindsay, Marty and Aiden his second day on that world. Seeing Aiden alive had added to the shock, but stories had been shared. More than he'd meant to, if he was honest with himself, but it was nice to be able to talk about his relationship with people that understood.

"What do you want to know?" he asked with a smile, some of the tension of the work he'd done that day easing. He realized later that things like that were how they survived the tragedy of the plague. They had learned how to take a few minutes and share the joy of life.

It was an important lesson and one that he would take with him to the next world and then back to his own. Whenever he managed to finally make it there.

End.


End file.
